Plate

A Plate (Japanese: プレートPlate) is a type of held item introduced in Generation IV, primarily for use in changing the type and color of Arceus and the type of its signature move, Judgment, to the corresponding type of Plate. However, it will also increase the attack power of moves of the Plate's type used by any Pokémon holding it by 20%. There is a Plate available for every type except Normal, and while there exists a ???-type Arceus in the Generation IV data, there is no associated ??? Plate, meaning there are 17 Plates in total. In Generation V, the ???-type has been removed from the data altogether, and in Generation VI, the Fairy type has been added.

The 16 Plates are spread far and wide across Sinnoh, and additional ones can also be dug up in the Underground. The captain of the S.S. Aqua will also give one away in index number order each day; however the player must have all 16 Badges first. In Pokémon Black and White, two of the Plates are given to the player by a treasure hunter in a house in Route 13. The treasure hunter will mention that he found the Plates in the Abyssal Ruins, and indeed, the rest of the Plates can be found there. In Kalos, a Pixie Plate was discovered, due to the classification of the Fairy type, which brought the total to 17 plates. What follows is a list of what effect a Plate has when held, and where they can be found.

An item to be held by a Pokémon. It's a stone tablet that boosts the power of Electric-type moves.

Engravings

Each Plate has a different engraving which reveals part of the myth of the creation of the Pokémon universe. No engraving is tied to a specific Plate; they will appear each one at a time depending on how many Plates the player has found so far, with the ninth Plate found using the same engraving as the first. In Platinum, after talking to the Hiker on the second floor of the Canalave Library, a book on the second floor with the engravings written in it will be left by the Hiker the player met in Oreburgh Mine.

The Plates appeared again in Arceus and the Jewel of Life, where Arceus used them to change its type, and almost died when it lost all of the Plates after having destroyed a meteor. Damos found one of these lost Plates and returned it to Arceus, giving it the strength to recall the other 15 Plates. That act earned its trust and prompted it to detach the Earth Plate, Splash Plate, Meadow Plate, Zap Plate, and Draco Plate in the form of the Jewel of Life so Damos could make Michina Town flourish.